Reaction To Wrestler Billing Himself As “The Rock JR” On Indy Scene

My Friday column for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review looks and reacts to the indy wrestler in Canada billing himself as “The Rock JR” and attempting to cut a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson style promo. Here’s an excerpt:

I’ve seen the most ridiculous thing ever for professional wrestling. I questioned even writing about it, but it’s like a car crash, and you can’t look away.

A guy in Ontario, Canada, is calling himself “The Rock Jr.” and cutting a promo attempting to look and sound exactly like the legendary Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I questioned giving him exposure because that’s the whole purpose of this charade. But 25,000 people have already watched, so at this point the ridiculousness has done its job, and I might as well chime in.

On the independent wrestling scene, especially with performers who have less experience, you see a lot of “I’m going to play wrestler.” I’m talking guys with bad self-awareness.

A common one I’ve seen is guys who try to play the big-money, rich gimmick but either are missing some teeth or are filming inside of their small living rooms. Nothing against people missing teeth or with small houses, but if you’re trying to sell yourself as this character, please take into consideration your big-money character probably would have a dental plan to replace those teeth and a bigger house. It just helps the believability along.

However, the more I think about it, this guy playing “The Rock Jr.” doesn’t have a self-awareness problem. This has to be a publicity stunt. I refuse to believe anything else.

Billing yourself as a spin-off to a famous character isn’t unusual in professional wrestling on the independent level. There’s a guy based in Georgia called “The Nature Boy” Paul Lee. He looks like Ric Flair. He dresses like Flair. He talks like Flair. He does the same moves as Flair. Flair even has managed him on a few shows and gave his blessing for Paul to do the character. I think Paul also helps Ric get paid well for some bookings, so that never hurts, either.

Spin-offs of the All-American, patriotic gimmick is common. Spin-offs of the Middle East character who aggravate by going against the U.S. is common. What’s worked with the Flair-like characters, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan characters or the “Iron Sheik” anti-American characters is they’ve all been endorsed by the originals.

Duggan, Iron Sheik or Ric Flair have taken part working with these characters on the independent wrestling scene. A payday, of course, is involved to help facilitate this endorsement, but still there was a public acknowledgement and cooperation which helps make it less tacky.

That’s where the ridiculousness of this “The Rock Jr.” comes in. Dwayne Johnson never would go for this. I doubt WWE would either if they choose to get involved. But all of that is the point. If WWE got involved, or if The Rock ever acknowledged it, then that’s the attention Great North Wrestling wanted.